Bob Schiller, a TV writer with credits on nearly 40 series — most famously as a staff writer at the end of I Love Lucy's run (1955-1957) — has died. He was 98.
Schiller in an undated photo (Image via Sadie Novello)
Schiller worked in the very earliest days of TV, making his debut writing for The Garry Moore Show in 1950.
Along with I Love Lucy, Schiller worked on other early sitcoms like It's Always Jan (1955), The Ann Sothern Show (1958) and Pete and Gladys (1961-1962), as well as The Red Skelton Hour (1964-1967).
Garry Moore, 1915-1993 (Image via CBS)
He followed his work on I Love Lucy by co-developing The Lucy Show (1962-1968) for TV and writing 48 episodes, later working on acclaimed shows like The Carol Burnett Show (1970), Maude (1973-1974) and All in the Family (1977-1979).
The cast of The Boys (Image via Showtime)
His final credit came in 1988, as a writer on the short-lived Showtime sitcom The Boys, starring Allen Garfield (b. 1939), Norm Crosby (b. 1927), Jackie Gayle (1926-2002), Norman Fell (1924-1998), Lionel Stander (1908-1994), Tom La Grua (b. 1949), Steve Levitt (b. ?), Frances E. Williams (1905-1995) and Janet Carroll (1940-2012).
Michael Stern of TheLucyFan.com, who is the author of the definitive Lucille Ball book, I Had a Ball (recently revised for 2017), was kind enough to offer this remembrance of Schiller to Gr8erDays:
This week, we said goodbye to the last remaining writer from the TV series I Love Lucy, Bob Schiller, who passed away at the age 98.
Bob started to work on the series at the start of the fifth season (1955), along with his writing partner Bob Weiskopf (1914-2001). Bob and Bob joined the other writers Bob Carroll Jr. (1918-2007) and Madelyn Pugh (1921-2011), the quartet known around town as "3 Bobs and a Babe."
He co-wrote many classic episodes, including “Lucy Visits Grauman’s,” “Lucy and John Wayne” and “Lucy’s Italian Movie,” often referred to as the grape-stomping episode.
Bob also went on to write for The Lucy Show (1962-1964), Flip (1970-1973) and All in the Family (1977-1979), just to name a few.
I had the pleasure of seeing him at so many Lucy events over the years and at the Lucy conventions in Burbank, California, in the late '90s to the early '00s.
Bob was always the first one to say hello and ask, "How are you doing, kid?" He was just one of the nicest people around. Seems like everyone who worked for Lucy had this great attitude in life. Always, smiling, making jokes
He may be gone, but his work will live on forever. He will make us continue to laugh for years to come.
Stern with Schiller (Image via Michael Stern)
Check out this interview with Schiller and Weiskopf speaking about the last-ever I Love Lucy show, their favorite episodes, their paltry residuals, and whether they knew the show would become a classic:
